Well, this is how it is. I have a blog post I want to write about the error of confusing the artist with the work. I’ve been putting it off for a few days now, and thought I’d do it today, but — press of work. Which is to say, pay copy. The blog post will have to wait a few more days. Or weeks.
I also have about a dozen emails in the inbox that I ought to answer, but that’s not going to happen, either. Or only in fits and starts. (I’ve got something like 450 emails in my box; never did really recover on that front from being away at the end of September. Possibly, I’ll just kill them all and start over. It’s an attractive option, anyway.)
I do have a couple favors to ask of you before I slip back behind the curtain for a while.
- If you’ve read Neogenesis, the twenty-first novel of the Liaden Universe® created by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, please consider leaving a reader review at Amazon, BN, Goodreads, or other places where readers hang out.
- If you want to talk about Neogenesis, there’s a spoiler thread — here.
- Degrees of Separation: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 27 is now available as an ebook from Amazon, BN, Kobo, iBooks, &c. It is also available as a paper book from Amazon only. Some folks are just settling back into Real Life and have missed hearing this.
- If you’ve read Degrees, please consider leaving a reader review at Amazon, BN, Goodreads, or other places where readers hang out.
- If you’re a Patreon subscriber, there’s a new podcast posted: Steve reading “Cutting Corners.” Have a listen.
- Also, if you are not a Patreon subscriber, but would like to hear Steve read “A Day at the Races,” here’s your link.
And that is all I have for the moment.
Everybody be good. Call your mom, walk your dog, tell your bestie you love them.
Today’s blog post is brought to you by Simon and Garfunkel, “Flowers Never Bend With the Rain Fall.” Here’s your link. Enjoy.
I’ll be over here in the corner with my assistants, working.
Funny, maybe there’s something in the air: last week L.E. Modesitt Jr., on his writer’s blog, had a blogpost about some readers’ expectations that they know all about him or his wife, based on confusing the writer and his work: http://www.lemodesittjr.com/2018/01/15/reader-perceptions/
I’ve just finished reading Degrees of Separation, and promptly reread Block Party. I liked them both a lot. You have such a gift for bringing real people to life in your stories, in all their differences. There are always captivating characters that keep me wanting to follow their stories further, hoping to learn life is treating them kindly.
I think that’s why your chapbook series of short stories set in the Liaden Universe has captivated me so much; in a short story we can catch up with the characters, and see some (relatively small) problem solved for them, so their life can continue in a positive direction.
For a novel, it feels as if the problem needs to be large, and ongoing, which means life isn’t treating the protagonist kindly at all, at least not at first!
I know it’s not a hard-and-fast rule that the problem in a short story is smaller; you’ve written very poignant short stories around very serious situations and life-changing actions. But at least it has that option, for catching up with beloved characters without totally upending their life again.
Though I totally love your penchant for positive endings, I’m also glad if some character I like doesn’t have to go through hell to get to the positive ending.
What she said (the comment before me). Just wanted to thank you (both) for sharing your stories with us.